A demographic analysis is proposed of the population mortality patterns in the U.S. for the 11-year period 1968 to 1978 utilizing race, age, and sex specific mortality data where all conditions coded on the death certificate, and not just the underlying cause of death, are reported. This represents a major extension of earlier research conducted under this grant where multiple cause data for a limited time period was analyzed. Extension of the analysis to cover the full 11-year period is major significance since a) the risks of certain major causes of death changed considerably over this period; b) major changes in life expectancy were noted at advanced ages over the period, and c) the nature of the mortality changes in this period represented a significant departure from the dominant U.S. mortality trends of earlier periods. The time series analysis will subsequently be extended to 1978-80 to determine if the changes manifest over the 1968-1978 period continued and to determine if switching to the 9th revision of the International Classification of Diseases Adapted for the U.S. (1968-1978) were coded according to the 8th revision) had a significant effect on multiple cause trends. The use of the national multiple cause mortality data in these analyses will yield new insight into the national mortality trends since considerably more information about the causes of death is available for each person. These data will be analyzed using standard and modified demographic life table procedures and more detailed models of the population mortality process specially designed to analyze the details of mortality at advanced ages and to relate the national multiple cause mortality trends to other biomedical evidence on the human mortality process. These analyses will produce a better understanding of the temporal changes in the contribution of chronic diseases to mortality among the elderly and, as a consequence, greater insight into differential survival across race and sex. Greater insight into the differential survival of the elderly specific to race and sex will yield important information on the likely changes in the population structure of those groups.